The present invention is directed to a lithography apparatus for structuring a subject or article, which apparatus produces a plurality of particle probes or particle beams.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,328, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference thereto, discloses a lithographic apparatus or electron beam writer which has an electron-optical column comprising a control diaphragm for generating a plurality of individual deflectable or, respectively, blankable electron probes or beams. This diaphragm is disclosed in greater detail in No. EP-No. 0 191 439 A1 and is essentially composed of a silicon wafer whose central part is constructed as a self-bearing membrane and is provided with a line-shaped arrangement of quadratic openings or apertures. An electrode system arranged in the region of the openings serves as a deflection unit.
Other lithographic apparatuses are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,130,761; 4,153,843; 4,409,487; and 4,524,278, and the disclosure of these U.S. Patents are incorporated by reference thereto.
In these lithographic apparatuses, the electron probes are supplied from a common source so that only a fraction of the available source current is divided into each of the particle beams. However, the probe current should be optimally high in order to increase the throughput of the structured semiconductor wafers which are being passed through the apparatus.